Well-optioned '65 on eBay

[Rivdrivn]

This one looks like it has just about everything 

[JZRIV]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-Buick-Riviera-/122452932716?hash=item1c82c3786c:g:Q1wAAOSwuspY9p35&vxp=mtr

 

[Seafoam65]

                 That is an awesome car, but the ad claims the interior is in mint condition, yet the fabric on the seats

has faded to bright pink? 

[RivNut]

I think it's the sun reflecting weird light on the silver cloth.  

[Rivdrivn]

I've never seen a '65 with so many factory options.

And what is that switch on the wood part of the door panel, power door locks?

[Seafoam65]

               The cloth on that car should be black, not silver

[Pat Curran]

It looks like black cloth that has faded over the years.  Not sure what the switch is on the wood veneer.  You can see 2 switches on the arm rest which would indicate power windows and power vent windows.  Power door locks were not a factory option at the time.  I am guessing that the laminated window sticker is a reproduction piece so possibly some features could have been added by previous owners.  Some "brass hat" cars were produced for GM executives that contained options that were never offered to the public on specific makes and models.  The data plate would usually indicate if it was a brass hat car or not.  Don't know if a Riviera brass hat car was ever built but there have been several documented Chevy's that have surfaced over the years built under the brass hat program.

[RivNut]

I don't know if it was you're calling a brass hat car but the black 85 Riviera that I had shiwed on the build sheet that it was shipped to Buick Motor Division in Flint.  It had all the options including sun roof and digital dash.

[KongaMan]

1 hour ago, Rivdrivn said:

I've never seen a '65 with so many factory options.

And what is that switch on the wood part of the door panel, power door locks?

Looks like a power window switch, dunnit?  My first thought was that allegedly original window sticker notwithstanding the interior had been upgraded from standard as part of a restomod.

 

My second thought was that this looked like the car that some folks have been trying to put together piece-by-piece.

[Rivdrivn]

I like the seat belt holders on the console. Very handy. My silver Riv has them too. I figured it was a one-off but now there are two. Was this a dealer add on?

[jframe]

I would be interested in knowing more about those seat belt holders as well.

[1965rivgs]

The seat belt holders are not a period correct Buick accessory. Seems to me I`ve seen these on Corvettes.

 Tom Mooney

[KongaMan]

2 hours ago, 1965rivgs said:

The seat belt holders are not a period correct Buick accessory. Seems to me I`ve seen these on Corvettes.

 

Which kinda makes one think you might want to see the build plate to corroborate some of those other options.

[Pat Curran]

As Tom stated, these seat belt holders are not a Buick accessory and it looks like they come off a mid year Corvette.  I have them on my 66 Vette and it looks like someone retrofitted them to the Riv.   

[JZRIV]

If anyone happens to get more info on this car like the Fisher Tag data and engine number please post.

[jframe]

I think those belt holders are the cat's meow. If anyone can give me a lead on where to get them, I'd appreciate it. They look like a U hook that the seat belt just buckles up to. Neat, keeps them out of the way.

[KongaMan]

23 minutes ago, jframe said:

I think those belt holders are the cat's meow. If anyone can give me a lead on where to get them, I'd appreciate it. They look like a U hook that the seat belt just buckles up to. Neat, keeps them out of the way.

Wouldn't you rather wear your seat belt?

Edited April 20, 2017 by KongaMan (see edit history)

[Rivdrivn]

22 minutes ago, jframe said:

I think those belt holders are the cat's meow. If anyone can give me a lead on where to get them, I'd appreciate it. They look like a U hook that the seat belt just buckles up to. Neat, keeps them out of the way.

 

Here's mine. One of many custom features that came on my new project car

[RivNut]

Should anyone be interested is keeping their seat belts out of the way, here's a link to this "retainer."

 

http://www.classicindustries.com/product/firebird/parts/3913682.html

[arnulfo de l.a.]

1 hour ago, jframe said:

 

 

1 hour ago, KongaMan said:

Wouldn't you rather wear your seat belt?

I dont wear mine. Those type seat belts were dicontinued because of the injuries to the spinal cord in a impact. As crazy as it may sound i would rather have my face smashed in or even die than be paralyzed for life

[superbuick]

Wear you seat belts. I friends wife slid off the road, hit hard sideways and was ejected out of the car.

She was almost smashed by the car, and was close to paralyzed after bouncing into the ditch. So now all there classic cars have lap belts or better.

 Steve

[jframe]

I DO wear the belts, I just think it gives the interior a neat, classy appearance when not in use. It REALLY appeals to my OCD.

[Black River]

Well, I won't try to preach to anyone, because I believe every man and woman should be able to do as they please.  But, I will say that I was a fireman for 7 years, and was on the extrication van ("jaws of life") for quite a few accidents.  If you've seen what I have seen, you would wear your seatbelt, believe me.  The old "getting thrown clear of the accident" might work once in 500 times, the other times you get thrown clear, and impact the ground, a tree, or some other solid object without a steel cage around you at over 100 mph (when a car is rolling it will throw objects at a much higher speed than the vehicle was actually traveling, like a catapult), it is not a pretty sight.  I was actually in a rollover at age 15 and didn't have my seatbelt on, and I would've been injured much worse if I had, but that was that one in 500 I was talking about.  Despite that lucky occurrence, I still personally wear mine every time I'm in the car....Just food for thought, and I won't argue with anyone that decides otherwise.

 

Lucas

[RivNut]

What ever happened in the laws that regulated car production where you had to have your seat belt fastened to start the car?  

[EmTee]

33 minutes ago, RivNut said:

What ever happened in the laws that regulated car production where you had to have your seat belt fastened to start the car?  

 

Air Bags (aka: "passive restraints")

[RivNut]

But you have to hit something for them to deploy.  

[EmTee]

6 minutes ago, RivNut said:

But you have to hit something for them to deploy.  

 

No problem -- just grab your smart phone and start texting! 

[Paul K.]

Does anyone know if the new owner of this car is a member of this forum?  I know the history of this car. 

Edited June 7, 2017 by Paul K. (see edit history)

[Mr Riviera]

I  think  this is a car that I once owned . The switch on the door panels are power locks from a Cadillac . I bought the car from my friend Chuck Good who did the restoration . I sold it to a guy in Illinois and then it was sold to someone in Florida . I lost track of it after that . I would like to find out who ownes the car as he has one of my Calif. Plates and I have paperwork he might want ?  I was a very nice car when I owned it but went down hill after .

 

[Mr Riviera]

I did confirm - VIN is the same as mine .

[Mr Riviera]

Here she is with the Vinyl Top .

[RivNut]

????

Is the window sticker in the first post for the car that Dick shows the picture of in the previous Post?  If so, why is there no vinyl top listed on the window sticker?

[Mr Riviera]

The VT  must have been added before the sticker was made . All was done before I bought the car .

[Paul K.]

This car is a good example of the stories and representations sellers make such as original miles and the such. Take them for what they are. Stories. 

 

I purchased this car for my brother in 1986 from the 2nd owner who lived off College Ave in the Del Cerro area of San Diego. I remember the ad just said "1965 Buick". I called and found out it was a Riviera. Got there and it was a GS.  At the time it had 94k miles and that was original. They owned the car since 1968. The daughter showed me the car and said she had driven it in college and so did her sister. Sort of a beater 3rd car for the family. I remember cringing when she said she knew she needed to add oil to it when she would hear the engine tick. Surprisingly, the car ran strong and did not smoke. They were asking $1100 and I drove it away for $700. 

 

The car came with both shop manuals,  owner's manual, and Protect-O-Plate showing the original owner by the last name of Stein who lived and worked at a body shop in nearby National City. According to the seller, he liked to show the car. He added some non factory items such as the Cadillac power door locks and a passenger power seat. In addition, he installed those ugly chrome Landau Bars mounted on the sail panels. He removed all the Gran Sport and Riviera badges and filled the holes. It also had those aftermarket 60s style headrests which were cylinder shaped, like the ones installed on a Porsche 356. It also had the Franz oil and transmission filter systems installed under the hood which were popular in the 60s and 70s. I got Stein's number from 411 information (remember that?) and spoke to him confirming his ownership and the modifications he did.   Originally, the interior was deluxe woodgrain,  all black vinyl and it was a non-A/C car. Options it had were deluxe interior, AM/FM radio with reverberator (which looks like it is now missing), vacuum trunk release, road wheels, tilt wheel, tinted glass, power windows and power vent windows, power antenna. At the time, it had a vinyl top but not sure it was originally equipped like that.  Thats all the options it had. 

 

My parents owned a restaurant and we did a trade out with one of our customers that owned a body shop for a paint job. It was a nice PPG Deltron 2 stage and the car looked like glass. They stripped the vinyl top and removed the landau bars but we did not locate or install any new Riviera or GS badges. The chrome was pristine and original. Also had a headliner installed and the two front seat cushions recovered in vinyl. 

 

A few years later, my brother was getting ready to go to law school and wanted to sell the car and get something newer with better MPG. I ran an ad but just couldn't get the $6500 we wanted because a non- A/C car was a deal breaker. So as luck would have it, my brother got rear ended and also hit the car in front of him. He got a check for $4500 and I sold the car wrecked but very driveable to Chuck Goode an ROA member for for $2200. Chuck did a great job of putting the car back together replacing the hood, grille, bumper and left fender. Plus replacing the rear bumper and had the left qtr and panel above the rear bumper repaired. he also rebuilt the engine. He also located the small GS emblems and Riviera scripts. The car was not repainted, only the damaged areas were painted.  At this time it was around 1989 and the car had about 120k miles. Chuck also installed factory A/C, cruise control and installed the cloth seat inserts. When the seat inserts were new, they looked real nice and really elevated the luxury feel of the interior. You can't tell in the ebay photos today but the seats had a line pattern of gold thread going through them. He also installed a vinyl top which is now gone again. I became friends with Chuck after that watching him restore the car and admiring his restoration skills  Chuck won a lot of shows with that car before selling it to Dick Sweeney who is on our forum. I always wanted to know where this car was/is and although it has gone down hill it has been in worse shape a couple of times in its life. 

 

Fast forward  to 2010. I'm at Jack's Mufflers on University Ave. in San Diego getting a muffler installed on my 78 Bentley T2. A guy riding on his bike stops and asks me a question about my car. Somehow we start talking about some of my other cars and the conversation goes to Rivieras (I own a 64). The guy says, "you know, back in the 60s, when I was in high school, I worked at a body shop in National City. A guy that worked with me had a beautiful black 65 Riviera GS. That guy really loved that car".  I asked: "Was his name Stein"  The guy's jaw dropped, "Yes".    Small World.